DELMONICO'S 
FIFTH  AVENUE 
N  EW  YORK 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


lEx  ICtbrts 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


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DELMONICO'S 

FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW  YOK 


Li 


H.  C.  Lloyd,  Publisher 


Press  of  Art  Color  Printing  Co. 


Delmonico's 
Beaver  Street 


Bclmontco's 

FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK 

OR  eighty  years  Delmonico's  has 
been  the  leading  restaurant  of 
America.  Established  by  Peter 
and  John  Delmonico  in  1827,  it 
at  once  became  the  fashionable 
resort  of  the  city  and  has  never  since  retrograded 
from  that  position. 

Delmonico's  first  achieved  its  reputation  be- 
cause of  the  excellence  of  its  cooking,  the  per- 
fection of  its  vintages  and  the  art  which  marked 
its  services.  All  these  component  principles  of 
dining  are  still  preserved  and  wherever  improve- 
ments are  found  expedient  its  patrons  are  the 
recipients  of  those  benefits. 

Its  cellars  are  stocked  with  every  wine  that 
connoisseurs  may  demand,  the  rarest  and  oldest 
vintages  being  always  at  the  command  of  pa- 
trons, and  all  are  kept  in  such  condition  as  is 
called  for  by  their  varying  qualities.  Nothing 
but  the  highest  grade  of  all  delicacies  is  used  in 
this  establishment — a  rule  that  has  obtained  for 
three  generations. 

Delmonico's  has  moved  successively,  as  the 
residential  portion  of  the  city  advanced  north- 
ward on  Manhattan  Island,  from  its  original 
house  to  Fourteenth  Street  in  1862,  thence  to 
Broadway  and  Twenty-sixth  Street  in  1875 
and  thence  to  its  present  location  at  Fifth 


Avenue  and  Forty-fourth  Street  in  1  897.  It  has 
always  been  identified  with  the  heart  of  the  fash- 
ionable district  and,  should  the  future  call  for 
another  establishment  still  farther  uptown,  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  call  will  receive 
the  same  response  as  have  those  of  the  past. 

The  house  at  Beaver  and  William  Streets, 
in  its  comparatively  modern  building  erected 
in  1895,  is  still  in  active  operation  and  is 
daily  thronged  with  the  bankers,  lawyers  and 
merchants  who  transact  their  business  in  the 
great  exchanges,  banking  houses  and  business 
offices  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  it  is  the 
central  point. 

Both  the  Fifth  Avenue  house  and  that  on 
Beaver  Street  are  under  the  sole  ownership  of 
Miss  Josephine  C.  Delmonico,  while  their  man- 
agement is  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Eugene  Gar- 
nier,  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  connected 
with  the  house  and  for  more  than  fifteen  its 
active  manager. 

The  Fifth  Avenue  house  was  built  about  ten 
years  ago  at  a  cost  of,  approximately,  one  mill- 
ion dollars  and  stands  today  as  the  acme  of  per- 
fection in  restaurant  architecture.  Tasteful,  yet 
simple,  decorations  in  floral  and  artistic  artisan- 
ship  mark  its  every  detail. 

On  the  ground  floor  will  be  found  the  Cafe, 
extending  along  the  easterly  side  of  the  build- 
ing and  facing  on  Forty-fourth  Street;  an  ex- 
quisite apartment  in  the  Old  English  style,  par- 
ticularly designed  to  rest  and  relieve  the  eye  by 


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the  harmony  of  its  decorations  and  the  simplic- 
ity of  its  furnishings. 

The  Palm  Garden,  with  its  beautiful  arched 
glass  dome,  its  plate  glass  wall  and  its  tall, 
slender  palms  which  may  be  seen  from  the  cor- 
ridors, should  be  viewed  at  night  to  be  best 
appreciated ;  for  then,  with  the  twinkling  candles 
on  every  table  and  the  fronds  of  the  palms 
waving  gracefully  while  scores  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen  dine,  the  scene  is  one  to  be  ever 
remembered.  This  room,  and  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen's  dining  room  on  the  Fifth  Avenue 
front,  are  finished  in  oak  and  pointed  with  gold, 
while  the  furnishings,  in  rich,  red  silks  and  velvets, 
lend  an  atmosphere  of  comfort  and  coolness  in 
Summer  and  warmth  and  restfulness  in  Winter. 

There  are  three  ballrooms,  the  largest  having  a 
capacity,  when  used  as  a  banquet  room,  of  four 
hundred  and  twenty-five  persons,  seated.  The 
upper  floors  are  partially  devoted  to  these  ball- 
rooms, to  private  dining  rooms  and  banquet  halls. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  rooms  in  the  build- 
ing is  the  reception  room  on  the  third  floor  on 
the  Fifth  Avenue  side.  This  room  is  38  by 
60  feet  in  dimensions  and  is  finished  in  ivory  and 
gold,  with  a  musicians'  gallery  at  the  north  end. 

Twelve  private  dining  rooms  for  small  parties 
are  located  on  the  upper  floors,  each  having  its 
own  private  reception  room  and  each  floor  be- 
ing equipped  with  its  own  service  rooms,  so  that 
there  is  never  the  slightest  conflict  in  any  regard. 
These  rooms  accommodate  from  twelve  to  thirty 


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Delmonico's 
Fifth  Avenue 


persons  with  comfort,  and  all  are  furnished  with 
care  to  their  particular  needs  and  size. 

Delmonico's  has  its  own  warehouse  for  the 
distribution  of  rare  wines  and,  to  assure  both 
age  and  uniformity  in  the  quality  of  its  special 
brands,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  it  buys  its 
wines  and  liquors  in  large  lots  direct  from  the 
place  or  country  of  their  production,  storing  and 
using  them  as  occasion  demands. 

The  two  top  floors  are  arranged  in  bachelor 
quarters,  where  a  small  number  of  suites  are 
provided  for  the  accommodation  of  those  who 
are  real  lovers  of  a  solitary  life,  and  on  the  east- 
erly end  of  the  fifth  and  six  floors  is  the  Winter 
Garden,  particularly  designed  for  stag  dinners 
and  for  the  use  of  those  who  care  for  the  en- 
joyment of  a  private  cafe  in  connection  with  the 
dances  and  weddings,  where  smoking,  because 
of  the  presence  of  many  ladies,  is  not  customary. 

The  force  which  moves  this  establishment 
consists  of  an  army  of  cooks,  butlers,  maids, 
waiters  and  others  whose  business  and  pleasure 
it  is  to  exert  all  their  energies  toward  the  com- 
fort of  the  guests  of  the  house.  In  the  kitchen 
there  are,  besides  the  Chef,  fifty  cooks  under 
the  direction  of  specialist  assistant  chefs  in  each 
branch  of  the  art  of  catering.  The  chefs,  or 
assistants,  who  make  any  particular  portion  of 
the  menu,  such  as  soups,  sauces  or  entrees,  have 
nothing  whatever  else  to  do ;  likewise  does  this 
apply  to  game,  to  fish,  to  vegetables,  to  pastry 
and  creams  and  all  the  other  viands  which  make 


4 


up  the  necessities  of  such  an  establishment. 
Therefore,  by  such  a  system,  a  greater  degree 
of  perfection  is  attained  and  retained.  Every- 
thing is  systematized,  and  more  than  two  hundred 
employes  are  at  the  instant  command  of  the 
Manager,  to  carry  out  his  orders ;  so  that  at  no 
time  is  either  a  small  dinner  party  or  the  largest 
banquet  delayed  or  disjointed  in  any  manner. 

In  conclusion,  a  word  concerning  the  outside 
catering  business  of  Delmonico's  may  not  be  out 
of  place.  Although  at  times,  during  the  busy 
season,  as  many  as  six  hundred  persons  are 
served  in  the  restaurant,  Palm  Garden  and  Cafe, 
and  six  or  eight  hundred  in  the  banquet  halls 
above,  yet,  on  the  same  day,  perhaps  even  at 
the  same  hour,  other  parties,  unlimited  as  to 
number,  are  being  served  in  town  or  in  the 
country,  sometimes  many  miles  away.  Del- 
monico's has  long  made  a  specialty  of  these 
outside  parties,  and  is  ready  at  all  times,  fully 
equipped  with  men  and  material,  to  serve  from 
the  simplest  collation  to  the  most  elaborate 
course  dinner,  furnishing  every  requisite,  any- 
where that  can  be  reached  by  rail,  regardless 
of  distance  or  the  number  of  guests. 

This  is  but  an  outline  of  the  character  of  the 
work  of  the  house  which  has  been  for  many 
years  the  leading  restaurant  of  America.  It 
makes  its  respects  to  its  present  patrons  and  begs 
to  welcome  the  newcomer  who  wishes  to  taste 
the  best  that  experience  and  knowledge  can 
produce  in  the  art  of  dining. 

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